Re: Hi Everyone To Darlene

[Guest guest]

Hi Darlene, yeah, like I said, I've been reading messages here for

quite some time and benefiting from a lot of the information. I

finally started to feel a little guilty about having such a one-sided

relationship with a message board! I know what you mean about

the " whining, " though. I have a great husband and he really tries to

understand, but of course he can't, really. I haven't told him yet

about this board, but he'll probably be glad I found it. I know he

gets tired of hearing about my hurt knees or what new medication the

doctor gave me.

> > I've been reading the posts for several weeks now. I'm starting

to

> > feel like a " peeping Tom " from learning so much about some of you

> > while not sharing anything about me, so I thought it was time to

> > introduce myself.

> >

> > My name is , I'm 49, live in Texas with my husband and two

> > kids. My journey with this wonderful disease began very suddenly

> in

> > April 2003 when I woke up with a swollen, throbbing right hand.

I

> > honestly thought I had somehow broken a bone without knowing it.

> The

> > hand seemed to heal after two or three days, to be followed by a

> four-

> > day bout of excruciating pain in my right shoulder, followed by

> > another three days of swelling in my left wrist, and so on and so

> > on. I know this sounds stupid – even to me – but I honestly

> thought

> > I was somehow hurting myself without realizing it. Finally

figured

> > out something wasn't quite right (duh). I was originally

diagnosed

> > with palindromic rheumatism, even though I did test seropositive

> RA.

> > (I don't know if you're familiar with PR, but it's another

> > inflammatory arthritis that visits a joint for two or three days,

> > causes immense pain, and then randomly moves on to another

joint.

> > You get it in flares, like RA, but it supposedly rarely causes

> joint

> > erosion. Still hurts like hell, though.) Finally in April of

this

> > year, it started falling into a more " rheumatoid type " pattern…

more

> > consistent pain, especially in my knees, feet, and hands,

> > morning " stiffness " (and isn't that an understatement?), yada,

> yada,

> > yada. Fortunately, my internist had sent me to a great

> > rheumatologist at the end of last year, so I was already taking

> > Celebrex and had started Plaquinel for the PR. Now I'm also

taking

> > fairly small doses of Prednisone (5mg) and Methotrexate (7.5). I

> > consider myself VERY fortunate because so far I'm responding well

> to

> > a fairly small dose of meds -- Minimum side effects and a pretty

> big

> > reduction in pain. (Yes, I know this can change very quickly,

but

> > I'm trying to look on the bright side and be thankful for where I

> am

> > today!) I'm really just having a few aches and pains right now,

> and

> > I'm much, much better in the mornings. Actually, one of my

biggest

> > challenges right now is the loss of energy, especially since I

> > started the methotrexate. Given the option, I could probably

take

> > about four naps a day.

> >

> > I think I'll stop here…Otherwise, I'll tell you everything I know

> and

> > never have anything to post again. Like I said, I just wanted to

> > introduce myself while I'm in a fairly " good place " so that maybe

> > when the bad times come, I'll have a few more friends (and you

can

> > never have enough, can you?) You seem like a really great bunch

of

> > people and I look forward to being a part of this group.

> >

> > Take care,

> >